Binding device



June 19, 1962 s. s. CHURCH 3,039,471

BINDING DEVICE Filed Feb. s, 1961 wi* C /////////////////////ugif,cf4/////////,

Amm/vz ys United States Patent O M 3,039,471 BINDING DEVCE Sidney Stanley Church, 240 Bctournay Ave., St. Lambert, Quebec, Canada Filed Feb. 3, 1961, Ser. No. 87,020 1 Claim. (Cl. 129-23) The present invention relates to an improvement to the known means for semi-permanently binding together between covers a number of sheets of paper or the like, particularly to such means where they consist of a binding post rigidly secured to one cover and .a corresponding binding cap loosely secured to the other cover, and more particularly to the said binding cap.

The present invention is more particularly applicable to loose leaf binders, although it is not limited thereto.

One of the most commonly used loose leaf binders employs the so called Chicago screw posts, which consist of a flanged post and screw cap .adapted to extend through the registering perforations of the loose leaves to be bound and through holes made in the anges of the book covers of the binder, the screw body of said cap being adapted to threadedly engage a threaded bore made in said post. The main disadvantage of said known construction is the fact that the screw cap and flanged post are removably mounted in the anges of the book covers and, therefore, are liable to be lost. Another disadvantage of said known construction resides in the fact that it is necessary to insert the lingers underneath the stack of loose leaves and press against the ange of the post in order to prevent rotation of the same during screwing of the cap thereon.

Other more expensive and convenient such devices present a binding post which is permanently or rigidly secured to one of the covers whereas the corresponding cap is loosely secured to the other cover to permit threading or screwing the post and cap together.

Various means for permanently securing the binding post to a cover have been developed and the present invention does not pretend to offer a new solution therefor.

However, the loose fastening of the cap portion to the other, cover is somewhat difficult and usually more easily accomplished with specially designed tools than by hand alone. Therefore, the present invention presents a new cap which can be adapted manually to the cover with a minimum of effort and is of an extremely low manufacturing cost. The cap of the invention is designed so that once assembled in the cover it becomes an unremovable part thereof.

Characteristically, the cap of the invention is made of two parts which are adapted to each other and friction locked in position by finger pressure alone or slight tap as in a press fitting operation.

The foregoing and other important objects of the invention will become more readily apparent during the following disclosure .and in reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a cap made in accordance with the present invention, the two parts thereof being separated from each other.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the part shown at the lower portion of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a fractional section view of a binding using the invention.

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view of a binding cover of soft material to which is secured the binding of the invention and further showing a protective eyelet in the hole to which is adapted the cap.

3,039,471 Patented June 19, 1962 ICC Referring now more particularly to the drawings in which like reference characters indicate like elements throughout, reference character A indicating a plurality of sheets to be bound together between covers B.

For the purpose of the present specification, the cover B .as shown in FiGURE 4 consists of multi layer material such as plastic sheets 1 separated by a filler sheet 2 whereas in FIGURE 3 it is shown to be of a single layer material 2. The cover is also folded over at 3 and a circular hole 4 is provided in the folded over portion 5 to receive the binding cap of the invention which consists of parts C and D. The part C is composed of an annular or circular liange portion 6 having an axial projection 7. A bore extending axially through both the ange portion 6 and its projection 7 has inside screw threads S corresponding to the terminal threads i5 of the binding post E so that it can be screwed thereon. The axial projection 7 is slightly longer than the thickness of the binding cover material and has an inwardly tapering outer surface 9. The flange 6 of the cap C is preferably knurled as shown at 10 to provide a better grip for the fingers when screwing the cap on the post.

The part D consists also of an annular flange 1l. and axial extension 12. The outer surface of the extension 12 is cylindrical whereas its inner surface 13 is outwardly tapering and of such dimension that it will engage the tapered surface 9 before the tip 14 thereof can come to rest against the under side of the cap C.

Press fitting the parts C and D together as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4 will frictionally lock them together.

In order to improve the free rotation of the assembled parts C and D which constitute the binding cap, in the hole 4 of the cover, an eyelet 16 of metal, nylon or any other suitable material can be used. The eyelet 16 also protectively covers the boundaries of the hole 4 against the wear and tear of prolonged and repeated use, and is particularly advantageous where the cover material is either too resilient or too weak or soft to retain the assembled cap in position.

What I claim:

A cap to be loosely mounted on a binding cover through a hole therein and to be used in conjunction with a binding post having a threaded end and receiving sheets to be bound to the cover, said cap comprising: telescoping male and female parts each having a radial flange of an outer diameter greater than the diameter of said hole and van axial cylindrical projection; said projections being adapted to extend across said hole in telescopng relationship and with the flanges overlying opposite sides of said cover; the projection of the female part having a tapered inner surface and the extension of the male part having a corresponding tapered outer surface whereby upon pressing said male and female parts together, said tapered surfaces become frictionally engaged and said parts are interlocked; screw threads on the inner surface of the projection of said male part co-operable with the threaded end of said post; the spacing between the respective radial flanges when the parts are locked being greater than the thickness of the cover material on which the cap is thus loosely mounted.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 430,318 Lendy June 17, 1890 1,176,619 Sykes Mar. Z1, 1916 2,633,175 Edmond-Pierre Mar. 31, 1953 

